Barbara Cook sings a medley from "The Music Man" on the Bell Telephone Hour, 1960. 

Barbara Cook would have taken "The Music Man" movie to the next level making her a film star as she deserved to be, too bad they went for name power instead of who was best for the role...one of the greatest ever, RIP Barbara Cook and thank you for decades of amazing performances...

She puts all her heart into the words and music. And I love her pure ooo sound in "til there was you". Most singers don't do that today. They sing yeeoo!

She was so incredible. What an artist.

Just hopped on youtube to find this video, after seeing it for the first time tonight on a local Arts channel in NYC. I knew who Barbara Cook was, but had only heard her later cabaret stuff. How in the world she was passed over for the film is beyond me. Her phrasing, diction, warmth - just perfect.

RIP, I don't think we'll ever see someone with the combination of her talent and courage.

I remember the Bell Telephone hour back then. It's great that they had early color video tape back then, when most everyone had Black and White TV sets. We can see and hear a young Barbara when she was on top of Broadway.

Oh... such beautiful singing!! She won a Tony Award for this role.

Four years later, the tears still come. How wonderful to hear again !

This... this is the voice that Meredith Willson picked for his Marian in Music Man! There was one and only one Barbara Cook.

The part of Marion Paroo in "The Music Man" is a dream role for a soprano thanks to the genius composer Meredith Wilson. The songs Marion gets to sing are so absolutely beautiful to listen to. Barbara Cook would have been phenomenal in the film version of the musical. The role seemed to fit her perfectly. I often wondered why the song "My White Knight" wasn't featured in the film. It's my personal favorite song and I love singing it.

What a treat! And a little glimpse into the past. The Music Man was still on B'way when they did this show. Ahhhh, to have been able to see it in 1957!

Rest In Peace, dear Barbara Cook. I'm sure you are up in heaven giving the angels a run for their money.

I had no idea this existed. This is why I love You Tube. Thank you so much for posting.

Barbara Cook's wonderful voice improved with age like fine wine! RIP

Completely sublime singing by Barbara Cook! What an exquisite voice she had.

She seems to have much more emotion and finess here than Shirley Jones did in the movie of two years later. They are both fine singers, but I prefer Ms. Cook....

Barbara Cook's singing commands admiration.

One of my favorite songs from a musical. I never tire of it. Just a masterpiece of composing.

RIP to the most beautiful voice of the stage.

She really was an amazing talent. I wish I got to see more of while she lived.

Such a lovely presence and voice. We miss you dear lady.

RIP Barbara. you are truly marion the librarian

Love to you Barbara Cook. I learned so much from you. Be at peace.

She should have gotten the film role. She’s so expressive and sings like an angel.

the illustrious voice and the buffalo bills ! thank you so much for sharing !

Early television showcases like this one introduced popular Broadway musicals like ‘The Music Man’ and the ‘Sound of Music’ to wider American audiences. They also bridged the gap between the Broadway productions and the Big Screen releases.

RIP a fine Anna, Sally, and a wonderful Marian

Rest nPeace marveleus singer,You ll be missed(1927-2017)

Barbara Cook won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for creating Marian in The Music Man.

One of the best ever!

Beautiful lady, beautiful old times.Where did they go?

Damn. Great voice.

Rest in peace 😢

I miss her so much

Will be missed.

There will never be another voice like hers

RIP Ms Cook.

Rest in Peace, Barbara

I like Shirley Jones. But, Barbara Cook was literally the finest Broadway soprano I have ever heard! I hear her and the Buffalo Bills and my blood pressure drops 15 points.

In fact Barbara was acepted after the screen tests and shge would have made the film with Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant Jack Warner fist choices as Hill.But the composer Meredith Willson said that he wouldnt make the film without Preston and in fact he wanted both Preston and Cook in the movie.But Warner didnt want to make the movie without a famous movie star so Shirley Jones was cast, instead,]

There are some wonderful master classes that Barbara Cook did which are on RU-vid...

I could swear my ears are telling me that the barbershop quartet that sang the second part with Barbara were the same men who were used in the film adaptation of "The Music Man." Their vocal timbres more than anything strikes a very familiar note.

One of the greats

Such a beat VOICE!

Love The Buffalo Bills!

This looks like an episode of the Lawrence Welk show. A whole lot of talent.

miss her. She got better in every way with age. The last portion of Lyda Rose sounds like it was dubbed later.

Obviously I grew up watching Shirley Jones' Marian. I wasn't alive when she was playing this role. Shirley was magnificent, had all the range needed, and not just in her voice. She had great chemistry with Preston. And I still wonder how Cook felt when she learned she'd been passed up in favor of a movie star. Just like Julie Andrews was for Audrey Hepburn (who had a pleasant singing voice, not remotely up to the songs in My Fair Lady). Maybe she was too busy with stage work, but I suspect they said "Eh--pretty enough. Not movie star pretty" They weren't even sure they were going to cast Robert Preston. They were talking about James Cagney, Bing Crosby, and Cary Grant (!!!). Preston wasn't movie star handsome, though he had an extensive list of film credits before The Music Man--he was rarely playing the lead. He was a good looking guy with a decent voice (Harold Hill's part doesn't require a great tenor), and a real aptitude for comedy. He'll always be the best Harold Hill. And Barbara Cook will always be the definitive Marian the Librarian. The bar every actress who gets cast has to clear, and some do. Never by quite as much.

I am sad to hear of her death today.

SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN IMPROVEMENT...MUCH BETTER SINGER AND PRETTIER...SADLY WE LOST HER THIS YEAR...

Damn Shirley Jones’s kneepads.

Nice to see the Buffalo Bills quartet reprising their performance as well.

Not only Barbara Cook but also the Buffalo Bills!!!

i think it would have been a different movie with Barbara in it. i can't imagine frank sinatra being able to do the magic that robert preston performed in that role.

Does anyone know if the quartet is the Buffalo Bills?

Is anybody ready for Sutton Foster?

why didn't they choose her for the movie?

She only sang two songs. Some people I have met in my lifetime would dispute the word medley because of that. As for the actual performance, it prompted me to think that not only was Ms. Cook cheated of a chance to become a movie star, we as an audience were cheated of the chance to see the very best possible person do this role; no disrespect to Ms. Jones, who was perfectly lovely in the role.

Proving that the movie producers made the wrong choice.

Curse that Harold Hill , He done snuck away again . I will get his credentials .

Barbara Cook was a fantastic singer. I believe she was actually more talented than Shirley Jones in that regard. However, Ms. Jones had a stronger movie history and following and was therefore seen as the better choice to star. Movie musicals were very expensive to produce so considering that it is indeed called show BUSINESS for a reason, it was no surprise to me that Shirley Jones was chosen to play the part of Marion Paroo.

Shirley Jones was wonderful in the role, although I certainly admire Ms. Cook, who, unfortunately, just did not possess the movie star looks to make her a star.

SORRY… SHIRLEY JONES’ VERSION IS THE BEST !!!

The macabre david postmeiotically bore because railway traditionally saw beside a near carol. impolite, solid farmer

She is OK. Repressed emotion. Maybe because of the staging? The movie staging was more like it Thus, I prefer Shirley Jones in that role. She really belts it out!

Peerless

Much more believable as a spinster school librarian than Shirley Jones.

Remarkable and effortless breath control and technique plus a gorgeous, pure tone add up to one of the most remarkable Broadway singers ever! Rest in peace- her son Adam is a great guy too(having known him for over 30 years since our USC days and later in New York).

Sadly many of today's opera singers haven't mastered vocal technique as well as Ms Cook did. Imagine, she was able to sing Cunegonde in Candide all week long, including twice on Wednesdays and Saturdays (matinee performances). Many of today's singers would be out with paralysed vocal cordes or nodes in a week or two.

The Music Man, with Barbara Cook & Robert Preston, was the very first B'way show I ever saw! To say that it was magical, would be a huge understatement.

What treat. Besides the peerless Barbara Cook, we see The Buffalo Bills who were the original quartet and also in the movie. Shirley Jones had won an Oscar in 1960, and they probably chose her as a bankable star. Warner Brothers had concerns that the amazing Robert Preston was a risky choice because he wasn’t a movie star. Through no fault of her own, Barbara Cook didn’t get the part. Her flawless singing here is a testament to her talent.

This has to be one of the most perfect live performances on television.

RIP Ms Cook. You were the best Broadway soprano ever!

Shirley Jones sang the music well and the words nicely. Barbara Cook sang them both exquisitely.

I hadn't seen this until today, the day of Barbara Cook's death. It was difficult to watch it through the tears. RIP Barabara Cook, you were--simply--the best!

The most beautiful soprano voice broadway has known. RIP

I would like to see Shirley Jones get some credit for the film version. I’m sure those who justifiably praise Barbara are not intending to discredit Shirley’s wonderful performance in the film.Both great singers

Fell in love with her and her voice when I first heard her in NYC back in the early 1950's. Along with Ella and Doris Day, she remains one of the great American soprano voices, and she always will be. How wonderful we still have recordings of her glorious young voice!

And she is singing with the Barbershop Harmony Society Hall of Famers "The Buffalo Bills" who did both the Broadway show and the movie plus being International Barbershop Champions! Barbara Cook did win a Tony Award but who knows what really went on behind the scenes at Warner Brothers. Some say Shirley Jones was better at acting and her timing was better. Several stars admitted turning down the part of Harold Hill saying only Robert Preston could be the "Music Man." He also won a Tony Award. Robert Preston was a very private man and died in his late sixties of lung cancer. He was an Army Air Corps Capt from 42-45 in WWII. Cook and Jones' voices are very different in timbre, and frankly, if I wanted a solo album I might prefer Barbara Cook. But Shirley Jones could carry the solos and blend oh so well.

What a treasure. Thanks for posting!

giggling a lil at the blocking, but man, what an injustice that i have never heard her sing these songs before. WOW

Rest in Peace.. Prayers for the Family August the 8th 2017 ..She gave us a wonderful songs from Broadway ..

She was so wonderful...mesmerizing. RIP my Barbara.

John Simon, the film and theater critic for New York magazine from 1968 to 2005 was *famous* for hating everything. He really wasn't completely hostile, but he created the paradigm of the hostile art critic. The only artist for whom he not only withheld his venom, but went crazy over, was Barbara Cook.

Angelic...such control, intonation, phrasing. No one graced the stage more beautifully than Ms Cook.

And no one’s gonna talk about the opt. up she did at the end of Will I Ever Tell You (D5). And not even on the sheet music - Patricia Lambert and Rebecca Luker did it too.

I feel sorry for the guy who all he could do is look at Barbara sing to him with her super voice. Too bad he couldn't sing back to her with a super voice like that of John Raitt.

May she Rest In Peace 😢

Barbara Cook passed away today...

Beautiful inspiration! Rest in Peace!

Over the years I have come back to this video again and again just to enjoy Barbara Cook’s exquisite singing. Thanks so very much for posting this, it’s a treasure ❤️.

What a wonderful voice and great singing technique! Thank you for uploading!

Barbara Cook... the greatest! Per newspaper TV listings for stations WOOD and WILX -- "The Bell Telephone Hour" -- broadcast on Friday, February 26, 1960... 8:30 PM EST.

Wonderful, thanks for posting.

I wonder if Barbara Cook was passed over for the 1962 film partly because of age. She would have been 34 in 1961 around the time of filming. In this video (which would be around the time she was being considered for the 1962 film): IMO she looks stunning: but not quite the fit as Marian is supposed to be in her 20's. Shirley Jones was a few years younger so probably fit the look of that age better (younger). Looking at photos from the 1957 Broadway production, Barbara Cook looked noticeably younger than here: enough to be in that younger age bracket of a woman in her 20's (Cook was 29-30 in 1957). So if they had done the movie then she would have looked the part more.

Music Man was set in 1912. At the kissing booth $1.00 for a kiss would have been very expensive, since now that would be about $25.00.

All love and respect to Shirley Jones, but Barbara Cook is inimitable.

No one in the 50's or 60's can compare to Barbara in any way. Best soprano, so pretty and energetic.

Great! I've seen other performances on The Bell Telephone Hour but didn't know this segment existed.

It was so frustrating for Barbara who originated so many extraordinary roles who saw most of them when filmed go to Shirley Jones. Nothing wrong with Shirley but we were robbed of Barbara at her peak.